1872
22 June 1872
THE GRAZIER,
A Week among the Mudgee Stock Owners.
RAWDEN.
ALTHOUGH credited with many of the best sheep generally looked upon as belonging to Mudgee, Rawden hardly forms a portion of the Mudgee district properly so called; and this I was made aware of in many ways, and by sundry and divers little signs and symptoms almost before I arrived within the outside fences which enclose most of the run and divide it into paddocks. Mr. R. W. Cox, who manages at Rawden, had sent his buggy to bring me out the thirty-miles from Mudgee, giving an additional proof of the kindness to be met with all through the district, and which causes many a vehicle and saddle-horse to be sent fifty miles or so for the purpose of conveying guests from the coach stage or railway station. The road runs past Mr. Bayly's Home Farm at Havilah, already described, and after going through that gentleman's land, it crosses the run of Mr. J. J. Riley, of Loowee, whose homestead I did not go in sight of. Along this road lots of fencing is going on. Mr. Bayly, as I think I told you in writing of Havilah, is now running a line along one side of the road, which when finished will confine travelling sheep between fences for many miles; and if a similar course were taken by Mr. Riley through the Loowee run, I don't know how far the flocks would not have to go without a bite of feed. Free selectors have been busy with Mr. Riley's run; but from the hungry looking stuff composing some of these farms, it’s hard to conceive what it has been selected for, unless to make the Crown tenants purchase at a considerable advance by-and-bye. After entering the Rawden paddocks, there was noticeable a great difference in the quantity of feed, there being plenty of grass all along both sides of the road, with very little marks of its being eaten down, notwithstanding that in each paddock there are thousands of sheep feeding where they list, and all looking well. The paddocks through which the road from Mudgee passes to the homestead, are all fine grazing country, though in some places heavily timbered, and there is not much change until one comes near to the buildings, when suddenly the eye is startled by a sight of most beautiful open flats, stretching for a long distance in front of, and below, the house, and bounded on the one side by the river, and on the other by high rocky ranges of as fantastic and picturesque shapes as anywhere I have seen, which completely hem in this beautiful spot. Through these flats runs a never-failing creek of excellent water, which materially assists in making this the best piece of sheep country, or I might say the best and most perfect run and establishment I have seen on this tour. This judgment I have formed from observing that I have nowhere seen grazing land that has stood so well the long and trying drought, or looked through stock in such good condition. The homestead buildings are judiciously placed on the crown of a knoll, from which we had a capital view of the country on all sides, and when the flats are green it must be really a beautiful sight. The original house at Rawden is one of the oldest in the district, and built of wood, with verandah fronting the garden which slopes down to the flats below, but this old residence has had added to it a very substantial building of freestone, containing a handsome drawing-room and other well proportioned apartments, the whole forming a very comfortable gentleman's residence, where hospitality can be, and is, dispensed in the true and time-honoured Anglo-Australian style, which so quickly tells the visitor to make himself at home. The requisite out-offices, with store room, stables, and all necessary conveniences, are grouped around, and nought is wanting to impede the business of management secundum artem. Where sheep and wool are the staples, appliances for the efficient superintendence of the former, and perfect getting up of their valuable coats are of course the one thing needful, and I must give the palm to the freestone woolshed standing by itself on the flat, which is the best braiding for its purpose I have seen about. In it I saw a small mob of sheep of various ages, which had been picked out to supply the exhibits in the different classes at the approaching Mudgee Show, and a remarkably good lot they are, some of the hoggets being splendid. The particular excellence of these Rawden sheep seems to me to consist in the wonderful evenness of their wool all over as well as unusual density, and I never saw any sheep better woolled on the bellies or down the points, a very small portion of the countenances and shanks being all that were bare. There were here some combing and some clothing sheep, the former of which are designated, I think, in the Mudgee prize schedule as "fine long woolled," which seems rather a misnomer, as the term "long woolled" can hardly apply to merinos; but be this as it may, the Rawden exhibits comprise sheep of two very distinct types, so far as their wool is concerned and both are equally good of their kind. I saw one ram among this lot that will be shown for the Champion prize; but as I saw no other rams in the district that will oppose him, it is not for me to give an opinion as to whether or not he will get the prize. At any rate however, he's as fine a sheep as any man need cast an eye over, and this I expect will be the opinion of the judges. I may as well remark here, that Mr. Cox is not taking unusual pains, by feeding and grooming, to get these sheep into show condition; their only indulgence being, that when there is an appearance of rain they are put under cover at night, to prevent the wool getting wet. I own to considerable disappointment in not having seen any of Mr. Bayly's sheep when I was at Havilah; and I was much obliged to Mr. Cox for the opportunity of seeing several flocks, among which were the young rams, a capital lot, out of which five or six hundred had however been sold previously, at capital prices. Many of your readers may not be aware that just now the question of paddocking sheep in large flocks is, if not indeed creating very much discussion, a moot point among the most skilled flock-masters of this very favoured wool district; and I was on this account the more glad of being able to see the system of large paddocks and large flocks in full working order. There are at Rawden, twenty-two thousand sheep, and of these but one flock is being followed by a shepherd; two boundary riders to look round the fences, doing all the super vision for the remainder. I saw many of the sheep, in different paddocks, and certainly they couldn't look better. It must be remembered also that the nature of this country will not admit of sheep being shepherded in large flocks as on the plains of Riverina and other favoured spots, so that the expense of management is here reduced in a much larger ratio than where three thousand sheep are looked after by one man. Taking the condition of the sheep on the one hand, and the state of the feed in the paddocks on the other, I should without hesitation go for the paddocking system, as carried out at Rawden. I'm bound to say, however, that Mr. Fitzgerald, whose run adjoins that of Mr. Cox, and who is giving paddocking a fair trial also, has not, so far, found it to answer up to his hopes or expectations. I can only speak of what I saw. The washpen, which is situated some distance from the homestead, on the river bank, is so arranged as to give every facility for getting up the wool as it deserves to be, and after they are washed, the sheep come to the woolshed through a series of paddocks on the flats I have before described, where they have all the advantage of plenty of grass, and cannot possibly get dirty, before they come under the hands of the shearers ; a capital arrangement, made easy of course by the natural advantages, which I have seen beaten nowhere. A large quantity of clearing is being done, towards the ranges, which as the work is carried out well, tends every year to bring the sheep station nearer perfection.
Besides the sheep, I saw a few head of pure-bred young cattle, which had come up from Mulgoa, and by a McDougall bull which Mr. King Cox has been using for some seasons, but is now discarded to make way for a couple of late importations from England, one of which I have not seen, and the other I don't think much of. The heifers I saw are a good lot, and speak well for their sire.
The young horse stock had been sent away into a warmer climate, and so I did not see them, but I renewed my acquaintance with the Lord of Linne, who is wintering here, but goes again for the season to Eurunderree, near Mudgee. His lordship is looking exceeding well, and disports himself in great style when let out of his box into the stockyard adjoining. It's great fun to see the old gentleman who looks after him, and is, by-the-bye, a real good Irish groom, provide himself with a "big lump of a stick," when he pays his respects to his lord and master. The Lord of Linne is very highly spoken of about Mudgee, and having to his credit such animals as Whalebone, Loup Garou, and The Heir, he will, in all likehood, do well during the coming season, under the management of Mr. J. D. Cox. The nicest farm gates I have seen anywhere are undoubtedly the Cox gates, which I may be allowed to call them in contradistinction to those of Mr. Robert Lowe at Wilbetree. They consist of five light sawn bars or battens, forming rather a low obstacle, with a sawn upright for the hinges, just double the height of the gate itself ; the upright into which the battens are morticed at the points or opening end, being only as tall as themselves. From the top of the huge upright two battens run to the foot of the point upright, one on each side of the five horizontal bars, and at the point where these double battens touch each horizontal, a bolt passes through the three, securely fastening them together. A pair of strong iron hinges, one at the top of the horizontals, and the other near the bottom, connect them with the hinge-post; and the double tailers from the top of the hinge upright act as an efficient brace or stay to keep the gate in position, and prevent it from getting out of gear. These gates are an institution at Rawden, as well us at Eurenderree, and the property of the Hon. George Henry Cox, and they have the double advantage of being serviceable and light, besides seldom wanting repair.
Rawden homestead is situated four miles from Rylstone, and twenty from the township of "Ilford," better known as Kean's Swamp, on the road from Wallerawang to Mudgee. The climate is considerably colder than either at Mudgee or Gulgong, and the great wood fires we had in the drawing-room at nights were positively delightful, and quite necessary under the circumstances. Rylstone is a very nice little township, where a great business is done with teamsters and drovers of travelling stock. There are two inns; that of Mr. Farrar, the old original house having an air of great comfort, with signs of being well kept; while the more modern stone house, kept by Mr. Hall, has a very imposing exterior, and I hear it well spoken of. Well supplied stores too are here, and doing a satisfactory trade; and the flour-mill of Messrs. Purcell is a very pretentious building, and well finished, of splendid freestone. The population are well provided with churches and schools; and the public buildings, consisting of a good stone court-house, and police quarters, are highly creditable to the place and people, and kept in remarkably good order by those in charge.
I should much have liked to continue my trip to Bylong, and so home by way of the Goulburn and Maitland; but having been long away, I was forced to postpone my visit to Mr. John Lee until another opportunity; and so I made up my mind to take the coach at the nearest point. I need not say that a conveyance was ready for me, and after spending there very pleasant days I left Rawden with many regrets, en route for Kean's Swamp. The road is a long way from the best I've travelled, but we were drawn by a good reliable horse, who surmounted all difficulties and went so well down "New Chum Hill" that we rewarded him by strolling quietly up "Petticoat Lane," about as stiff a pinch as a man need negotiate in a day's march. This done, a little more travelling brought us to Ilford, with lots of time to spare for a good dinner, before the arrival of the coaches; and once more thanking all the friends I met during my trip for their kindness, I say goodbye to the Mudgee district for the present; merely remarking that, what with good horses and good coachmen, my up and down journeys by Cobb and Co. were got over very pleasantly; and I was glad to find the road much better than last year, a large length of it having been metalled since I was there then. The rail affords little to tell of; being pretty tired, I slept most of the way down, and in due course reached the Sydney terminus; which finishes my notes to your readers of "A Week Among the Mudgee Stockowners." - A pleasanter one I would not spend.
CLYDESDALE1
.
1897
26 May 1897
On the Rawden estate (Cox's), near Rylstone, Mr. Cox has engaged men to kill and skin a number of the old sheep; while sheep have been sold at 1s 6d per head by other sheep owners, and in one case, a selector killed one thousand lambs to save the ewes2
.
1907
15 April 1907
{img fileId="580" thumb="box" desc="Rawden Stud Ewe Bred by Messrs A and J Cox 1907}4
15 April 1907
Another day we drove over to Rawden, the property of Messrs. J. and A. Cox, and saw some splendid Merinos. This is also one of the oldest studs in the district, and though experiments have been tried with other strains, the Rawden sheep are almost typical Mudgees. We saw plenty of folds there, especially on a Cullenbone ram, but one could hardly see finer quality unless he went to Wooriwyrite. We could only handle those sheep in preparation for the Mudgee Show, but they were a pleasure to overhaul. Why is it that our present show conditions preclude sheen like these from winning? The Rawden sheep have constitution, symmetry, dense and even fleeces of beautiful quality - all that is necessary for the production of high-class wool, but somehow they are not the type considered “ show sheep” now. Nevertheless Messrs. Cox Bros, had some ewes which would give a very good account of themselves at the Sydney Show should they be sent down5
.
1921
15 December 1921
RETURNING TO THE DI8TRICT.
Mr. D. Clarke, who has purchased seven blocks of the Rawden estate, including the homestead block, was at one time owner of Monivae station, Lue, also Eumaralla station. Mr. Clarke will be warmly welcomed back to the district6
.
1922
23 January 1922
MR. D. CLARK NOW AT RAWDEN.
.Mr. D. Clark, late of Monivae, I.ue, and Eumaralla (better known as Guntawang). near Gulgong, has taken possession of Rawden Homestead, together with several blocks which he recently purchased. His many friends will be pleased to welcome him back again to the district7
.
27 April 1922
BREVITIES.
Mr. Clarke, of Rawden, is effecting improvements to the property, having decided on rabbit netting several miles of the estate and adding additions to the homestead8
.
1923
24 May 1923
Mr. D. Clark, of Rawden who knows the Mudgee district well, having had stations at Guntawang and Lue, was in Mudgee this week. He states that he has never seen the district looking so drought stricken. So far as Rawden is concerned it is comfortably stocked with sheep and will see the winter through9
.
1955
17 January 1955
Last week, State Cabinet finalised plans to throw open seventeen properties for War Service Land Settlement. Among the six which will go to ballot are 2,582 acres of “Uliman” estate, about 26 miles from Coonabarabran, which will be subdivided into three mixed farms, and 2,283 acres of “Rawdon,” Rylstone, which will provide two fat-lamb blocks. Of the eleven properties to be settled under the promotion scheme, on will be “Jude Park,” 1,280 acres about 15 miles from Gulargambone, which will be made available as a mixed farm10
.
17 January 1955
Water Piping Demonstration at Local Field Day
“A revolutionary method of laying polythene water piping by mole plough will be demonstrated in the Rylstone area on Thursday, January 20,” announces Mr. G. Ireland, of Imperial Chemical industries.
The demonstration will be given at Rainford’s (Rylstone) field day held at “Rawdon,” the property of Mr. J. K. Kerr.
“It is possible to lay 500 ft. of ¾in. Piping from a coil to a depth of about 12 in. in twenty minutes,” says Mr. Ireland. “The economy achieved in labour costs, and the fact that the piping has a life of thirty years are salient points to this new water reticulation aid.”
Post mortem examination of sheep for worm infestation, the proper use of drenches, and low volume weed killing equipment with power takeoff and gear pumps will also be demonstrated.
Later at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Hall, films will be shown. They will cover such problems as worms in sheep, weed killing, water reticulation and the use of perspex in farm buildings. Admission will be free.
This show will be repeated at Mudgee in the C.W.A. Hall the following evening at 8 p.m11
.